A Look Into Trump's Turbulent History With Black Community

For decades, many in the Black community have viewed President Donald Trump as being racially insensitive.

Hard for a Leopard to Change His Spots

From the beginning of President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, many alt-right/White nationalists or White supremacists have gravitated towards his potential and eventual presidency.

After the tragic death of Heather Heyer at a White nationalists’ march in Charlottesville, Va., Trump angered those opposed to the alt-right movement and White supremacy, while receiving praise from people such as former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke.

Whether one believes Trump is a racist or just someone who is ignorant to America’s turbulent racial history, his seemingly insensitive rhetoric and actions should come as no surprise.

For those who have lived in New York City for decades, or who have worked with Trump, the 45th president of the United States set a seemingly racially intolerant precedent years ago, despite his current moral responsibility to be the “uniter” and healer-in-chief.

While one can hope that Trump has a come to Jesus moment and helps America come together racially, it is hard for a leopard to change his stripes especially after the age of 70 years old.

Therefore, RegalMag.com would like to look at how the aforementioned “leopard” got five of his spots, which could be indicative of how he actually feels about the African-American community.

Central Park Five—When four African-American boys and one Latino boy were accused of raping a White woman, Trump took out an advertisement recommending the reinstatement of the death penalty in New York state to punish them for their actions. When a confession by the actual rapist ultimately led to the acquittal of the five teenagers, Trump never apologized for falsely accusing the Central Park Five. The real estate mogul actually doubled down on his opinions, stating that he still believed they were guilty despite DNA evidence and a confession that proved otherwise.

Birther Movement—In an effort to de-legitimatize the presidency of Barack Obama, Trump became one of the loudest voices of the birther movement, which suggested that Obama was actually born in Africa making it unconstitutional for him to become president of the United States. Never mind that Hawaii is a state in America. Never mind that Obama visited Africa for the first time as an adult. And never mind that Obama’s birth was published in a Hawaii newspaper during the 1960s. All of those facts were not enough to dissuade Trump and the birther movement from recognizing the 44th president as a citizen by birth of the United States.

Housing Discrimination—In 1973, Donald Trump faced a federal lawsuit for housing discrimination at his urban New York housing developments. During the early 1970s, testers were sent to Trump apartments to purchase or rent apartments. The Black testers were told there were no apartments available, while the White testers later were offered apartments at the same location on the same day. Later Trump along with father, settled the case without admitting guilt. However, the Trumps were required to take out ads saying that African-Americans were welcome to rent/buy apartments in their buildings.

David Duke endorsement—During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump received an endorsement from the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and their former grand wizard David Duke. When initially asked to disavow the endorsement, Trump skirted the issue by saying he did not know enough about Duke and the KKK to disavow. The future 45th president of the United States eventually did disavow the endorsement.

Trump and Historically Black Colleges and Universities—In the early days of Trump’s presidency, he promised more money and relief for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). He invited a number of HBCU presidents to the Oval Office, with many of the college presidents hoping to discuss the importance of HBCUs and their need for more funding. Instead, Trump took photographs with the HBCU presidents and has yet to provide financial assistance to some of these cash-strapped institutions. However, Trump did sign an executive order, which makes HBCUs a priority for his administration. According to a February PBS.org article, GOP lawmakers said there were no current plans for increased funding.